Welcome to lanther.co.uk

Welcome to my website. Please feel free to browse at your will, using the menu on your left. The main page below is home to my (long neglected) weblog for those of you that are bored enough to take an interest in what's going on in my life :-). I'm currently a Principal Scientist at Adobe, working on the architecture for asset management and collaboration in Creative Cloud. Prior to this, I was the lead developer for Creative Cloud Libraries - a revolutionary new way of sharing creative content between different applications, devices, and people. I previously helped to develop Adobe Scout, which was a visual profiler for Flash and AIR applications. Prior to this, I was a researcher in the Language Based Technology group at the Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen. I was part of the MT-LAB project, which is a collaboration between DTU, Aalborg University, and ITU, investigating formal verification techniques for advanced software systems. My particular research was concerned with probabilistic and stochastic analysis of distributed systems. I did my PhD in the Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, supervised by Professor Jane Hillston. Previously, I studied at Robinson College, Cambridge. I originate from Bridlington, a little sea-side town on the Yorkshire coast. In the summer of 2005, I was a Senior Technical Associate at Fraser Research, in Princeton, New Jersey. Non-academically, I've been studying Japanese since January 2006, and I have been playing the fascinating game of Go since September 2006. I was previously the president of the Edinburgh University Go Club, and was a member of the Japan-UK 150 sub-committee for Scotland. My current grade is around 3kyu. Other than that, there's not much else to say. Feel free to enjoy the site! 楽しんでください！ Michael Smith

Thursday 20/04/06 @ 11:03 pm

Easter in Rural Yorkshire

So, last Tuesday afternoon, I jumped on the train to Bridlington for the Easter weekend. Or at least for most of the way, since I still refuse to venture onto the centuries-old railtrack that links up Bridlington with the rest of the English-speaking world. Hence I tumbled out of the train at York and into the car of my ever-obliging parents for the remainder of the journey. Admittedly, the timing of this trip was rather ad-hoc, since I only confirmed that weekend that I'd been 'promoted' to the next level Japanese class, which is now on a Monday rather than a Wednesday evening. Needless to say, I wouldn't miss it for the love of Christ, let alone his death-day.

Anyhow, after arriving back (and remembering to change my watch to the new timezone), I just unpacked and settled down for a relaxing evening. The next day was similarly lazy, having a late lunch then going round with mother and Ali to see my grandparents. Ali is now trying to grow his hair long, in the spirit of his new 'rock band', but he still has rather a long way to go before he can rival Pat Sharp. In any case, my grandparents were both well, although granddad is still recovering from the fall he had in Edinburgh, much to the non-amusement of grandmama. After chatting for a bit, Mum and I left to have a wander round the never-changing town centre, and visited such exciting shopping facilities as Woolworths and Tesco. This was mostly in search of Easter eggs, of which there was a fairly measly selection. About the only noticable change is that they've now completely demolished the old methodist church on Chapel Street, which has for years been partly left standing, with its dilapidated organ pipes exposed to the elements.

That evening, after a delightful dinner of spaghetti bolognaise, Alex came a knocking. We had a catch-up chat over coffee, before she had to nip out for a job interview at the Martonian. Of course, fifteen minutes later, she returned with success. I'm telling you, some people just love to collect jobs! The rest of the evening was uneventful, and we watched the apprentice (which I've started watching thanks to German Alex) over a few glasses of wine. One thing's certain whenever I go home - there's always plenty of alcohol about the place. And mother is still in denial.

On Thursday, after another late lunch, I went into Scarborough with Mum and Ali. It seemed like a good idea at the time, until we'd parked up and walked into town, and wondered what on Earth there was for us to do. In the end, we just did a bit of clothes shopping, which was useful for me, since I never seem to buy anything unless I'm with someone. Ali was also in need of new clothes, although getting any response out of him is like, well, interrogating a very dead camel. He should have brought his electric guitar along; we get more feedback out of that. We did manage to get him a few things in the end, and had a coffee in Debenhams (which seems to violate every child labour law going) before heading back. Since Alex had a leaving do after work (not for her, but for the dozens of personnel made redundant), it was another quiet evening in for me.

On Friday, Alex was free, so she came round at about 11 for a coffee, before I got psuedo-forcefully dragged to Hornsea and it's ever-beckoning chocolate shop! It was actually a lovely day, and we enjoyed a hearty lunch (quiche for me, chicken wraps for Alex) and an even heartier dessert. To try to avoid a chocolate-induced heart attack, we set off for a walk down to the seafront, and along the promenade for a bit.

As the topic inevitably slipped to Japanese, we started talking about arranging a visit to Japan, hopefully sometime next Spring, and even better if we can get to see the sakura. Of course that's still some way in the future, but I'm hopeful that my language will be at least good enough to cope a little by then. After nipping into Heron frozen foods *shiver* for Alex to buy a luke-warm drink (ah the irony), we drove back to Bridlington to see Carl for a bit. We had a nice chat over coffee (and it turns out that I've corrupted Carl with freshly-baked bread) before Alex had to get back to be ready for her new job!

On Saturday afternoon, after Alex got back from work (job number 1), I got to hear all about the previous night (job number 2). It turns out she spent most of the evening washing up, which although being a skill I admire in a woman, isn't something that I'd want to do for a living ;-). So, we spent the afternoon with a washed-out Alex on the sofa, drinking coffee and not doing much in particular. The plan was to have a film-night at Alex's that evening, so at about 5 we braved the trip across town to Tesco, to pick up some strawberries and chocolate for the fondue. Not that I object to it, but there's something about having no choice in the matter... Anyway, by the time we'd finished shopping, and headed over to Paradise Life for the usual Chinese affair (mmmm, seaweed), it was time to pick up Carl. Of course, we didn't tell him about the affair, but the abundance of prawn crackers must have said it all.

After we'd eaten, we began by watching Howl's Moving Castle, which was followed by a few episodes of Red Dwarf and then Sin City (excellent film, and it was the first time I'd seen it). Alex disappeared to bed at some point during the latter, and Carl and I retired after it had finished. I got to stay in one of the en-suite guest rooms, which despite having a hole in the bathroom ceiling was very comfortable.

Sunday morning, I got up at around 10, and we rendezvoused over coffee in the living room. I had to be back home for Easter dinner with the family, so after Alex had gotten ready we headed back to mine. As my grandparents arrived, Alex and Carl went off in search of pork chops (on Easter sunday?!?), and I enjoyed a nice home-made roast lamb dinner, complete with Yorkshire's primary export. Dessert was a trifle, but a good one. My grandparents stayed for another hour before heading home, and at about half 2, Carl and Alex came back round. They'd opted for sausages rather than pork chops in the end.

After much persuasion, and discounting of other options, Carl and I managed to persuade Alex to go to Bempton cliffs for a walk. Naturally, this meant having to go back to Alex's for a change of shoes, and the suggestion of walking there was flatly refused under pain of death. Having said that, it was a delightful day, and we managed to get a good mile and a half of walking in, so it was well worth doing, even though Carl nearly got beaten to death.

It's actually a very nice stretch of coastline to walk along, and since it's a bird sanctuary there are a number of lookout points onto the cliffs.

By the time we got back to the car, Alex had to be getting ready for work (job number 2), so she drove Carl and me home. Another uneventful evening passed, until I got a phone call at half 10 to say that somebody had finished work early and was free. So, Alex came round for an hour and a half or so, before disappearing off to bed.

Since I had to be back in Edinburgh for my Japanese class at half 6, Monday was a somewhat rushed occasion. Alex came round at about 10, and we set out into town in the pouring rain, picking up a drenched soul along the way, which turned out to be Carl. Once in town though, the rain quickly cleared up and it turned into a nice day. Carl and I were forced to trail around looking for a non-existent Easter egg for Alex, until we gave up and walked down to the seafront. The amusements were as amusing as ever, although Bridlington's Number One Attraction had changed it's sign in favour of advertising the "hight" restriction. We had an early lunch at Goldings at midday, with the usual gigantic salad (complete with 'offending carrots', according to Alex). Unfortunately, by the time we were done, it was time for me to set off once more for Scotland. I had a very enjoyable few days.

The journey back, despite crawling through bank holiday traffic in York, was not too bad, and at least I got a seat on the train back. I sat next to an interesting guy who'd just had to leave his Territorial Army training near Darlington due to injury, and was wondering whether it was the right decision to join the army, and where his life was going etc. The train was on time, and I got to my class in plenty of time.

So, now I'm back in Edinburgh, and it's on with work as usual. Hopefully I can get a bit more done in the next month than in the last. There are certainly a few conference deadlines coming up to aim towards, so I'd best get cracking, so to speak. Hopefully I'll get some visitors (*hint*, come to Edinburgh!)! In any case, it was a great little visit home, and while I don't know when I'll next be back, I'm sure I can pop down for a week sometime during the summer. Ja mata!